All My Children Tribute Thread

[ellabelle]

If that was the reasoning behind their decision, then this is yet another example of a fan base dictating casting and story decisions with awful results.

[AMCHistory]

I know that this was a well recorded incident. I believe Kate left on maternity leave and the Producers came up with this idea. Based on the collected mail, it was decided who would stay and who would go. James and Kate were forced to work together in the next weeks in some of the most passionate Natalie/Trevor moments with the conclusion of the Carter Jones story, ending with Trevor rescuing Natalie from a fire in their home.

I do not know why people were so enamored by Kiberd and Trevor. He was getting billing as top star of AMC with much press and screentime. Then, as soon as Collins was gone and the Natalie recast fizzled, it was clear that Kiberd was not leading man material. Kiberd had contributed to his undoing as Trevor would not have a successful romance or popular front burner storyline. His hubris had been his own undoing with AMC as he would not have as popular a screen partner, man or woman, since Collins.

I wonder if the animosity was ongoing as Kiberd and Collins never shared 1-on-1 scenes in any of Collin's returns as Natalie.

Unlike Kiberd, Natalie had multiple popular pairings and floated through the canvas seamlessly. She started out as the spoiler in the Jeremy/Erica romance, then phased through the Cortlandt, Marick, and Chandler family storylines. To me, Collin's equity to the show was clear.

Edited April 7, 2012 by AMCHistory

[DRW50]

I think what hurt Collins' position is that she had no "big" pairing (she was very popular with Jeremy, but the show ended that and never looked back), and she did not look her best in some of her last year on the show. And she seemed to lose most of her personality and purpose after the show did the rape story.

[AMCHistory]

See, I loved her with Adam and Dimitri! Especially her back and forth with David Canary, she showed that she still had claws. I hated that both pairings were sidelined for Trevor.

She also had two runs with Jeremy, once when she came on, and another in the early 90's before being thrown into Trevor's orbit.

Her marriage with Palmer was also a pretty popular pairing as I recall. She was like a caged bird in a gilden cage.

[DRW50]

Yes, but she never actually loved Adam or Palmer, did she?

I have not seen a lot of Dimitri/Natalie but I always got the feeling that was just until he got together with Erica.

[AMCHistory]

Palmer... maybe. There was a relationship there. I think she realized that it was not love after the marriage. She cared for him after he was shot by Adam's thugs, and they had built a sincere rapport. Let's remember, Palmer was quiet the charmer when wanted to be. That was how he married so many women half his age.

I also do not think that great couples have to be in love. Take Adam and Erica for example. Erica had nothing but contempt for Adam in both her runs as Mrs. Chandler. I find both tenures especially memorable.

Dim/Natalie, I always wondered why they went there. Kate and Michael got a lot of press for the pairing. I wonder when the role of the Count was created, if he was meant solely for Natalie, but the last minute casting of Michael Nader changed the direction of the story so that they could pair the high-profile star with the show's highest-profile star. Nader's casting was so last minute, he shot three weeks worth of scenes on an expedited schedule!

Edited April 7, 2012 by AMCHistory

[DRW50]

You're right about Adam and Erica, although I think initially she was charmed by him. It seemed like Natalie/Adam was more about her relationship with Trevor.

I kind of feel like the show just gave up on Natalie some time before Kate Collins left. None of her last few years of stories were in any way about her character.

[AMCHistory]

Adam/Erica marriage 1 was a business decision. Adam offered Erica the staring role in "Raising Kane," the movie about her life, contingent on the marriage. Of course, in classic Adam fashion, he never intended on going through with the promise. Marriage 2 (which really was an extension of marriage 1) was equally sterile, with Erica trying to protect Bianca.

Trevor was a definite factor in the Adam/Natalie marriage. The crux of it was Adam's ploy to build some capital after loosing most of what he had to Brooke. Natalie was a rich woman again after she inherited the Mason estate from her ailing patient. Also, together, they would have enough shares to try and take Enchantment out from under Erica. I loved how much Natalie abhorred Adam, but there was a definite chemistry that kept that kept me tuning in.

[Khan]

I disagree. Because Kate Collins (who does not look nearly as zaftig in that photo as she did on the show, BTW) and James Kiberd weren't getting along, I think the game-plan was to have Nat hook up with Dimitri after the Natalie-in-the-Well story, with the possible explanation that she found it hard to forgive Trevor for not knowing it wasn't her he had married. Unfortunately, although Collins and Mike Nader looked good together, he just didn't have the right kind of chemistry w/ her, so those plans were scrapped; and as soon as the whole "Angelique" mess was worked out, they decided to pair him with Erica instead. (Let's be honest, just about any man could have chemistry with Susan Lucci. I learned that much the night she co-hosted the Daytime Emmys with Drake Hogestyn.)

[Khan]

You know what I think hurt Kate Collins on AMC more than anything? Candice Earley's departure. As captivating as KC's beauty was, there also was the sense that she was ... frigid ... emotionally. Natalie's friendship with Donna, though, seemed to warm the character and make her more accessible. Once THAT was gone, well.....

[AMCHistory]

Which photo? Kate did look a little rounder in the face at the end of her run as Natalie.

[Khan]

I'm talking about the one from People where she is looking into the handheld mirror.

[DRW50]

I think Kate, although at a larger weight, looked pretty good in recent AMC years. That wedding photo to Trevor has always disturbed me - her face in particular. It is of a woman who just seems defeated.

[AMCHistory]

OMG, I agree 100% with this. The Donna/Natalie relationship was so special to me. I loved that these two women, outcast by so many in Pine Valley and so different in upbringing, found their way to each other. Candice and Kate were so authentic together. Did they fight from time to time? Of course. But it never got nasty; Donna always had Natalie's back when no one else did.

[AMCHistory]

I thought that photo was very flattering of Kate. To me it shows off how beautiful her features are still and that they had to do-up her frumpiness as Janet in her latter runs.